Lens of Deciphering?

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by FireHorse

Well, I would argue that a Lens of Translation cannot be a mere dictionary, because that would be next to useless — because any word-for-word translation from one language to another is always going to come out as half-senseless gibberish. It's more than just the Vocabulary that differs, it's the Grammar — any two languages you choose will have different cases and tenses, different structural rules, different word order, and so on.

Agreed. There has to be some measure of comprehension involved in order to render the translated text worthwhile. So a cipher should be within scope for a Lens, as long as the teacher fully understands it as well.

And I do think that the translation skill of the Lens is directly related to the abilities of the teacher. Thus a Lens instructed by a really gifted translator would be a notably superior item. Just take a look at the different translations of, say, Beowulf or Dante's Inferno. There are significant differences in English, especially when the translation is by someone who is a gifted writer/poet themself. The Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf and the John Ciardi translation of Inferno are incredible works in my opinion, and miles apart from other efforts using the same sources.